Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a 2009 American crime thriller film written, directed and shot by Peter Hyams. A remake of Fritz Lang's 1956 film of the same name, it starred Jesse Metcalfe, Michael Douglas and Amber Tamblyn. Production was announced in February 2008 and filming began the following month. The film was theatrically released on September 11, 2009, by After Dark Films and Anchor Bay Films to extremely negative reviews; it was a box office bomb, earning only $4 million on a $25 million budget. Plot Reporter C.J. Nicholas built his career on an award-winning documentary about a pregnant teenage prostitute in Buffalo, New York, who died of a drug overdose after the death of her baby. Now a TV reporter in Shreveport, Louisiana, he works to reestablish himself through an investigative unit with fellow reporter Corey Finley. Nicholas is convinced that District Attorney Mark Hunter is corrupt. A former police detective discussed as a candidate for Governor, Hunter built his career on a string of convictions based on last-minute, circumstantial evidence. After Nicholas flirts with Assistant D.A. Ella Crystal to obtain a videotape, they begin dating, despite his distrust of her boss. The tape suggests that Hunter uses his former partner on the force, Lt. Merchant – lead detective on all 17 arrests that led to convictions – to obtain DNA evidence from suspects in custody and plant it to support a conviction. Nicholas is unable to prove how the evidence could be planted, and his boss is forced to cancel his investigative unit due to budget cuts. Determined to expose Hunter, Nicholas concocts a scheme to frame himself for a prostitute’s murder using circumstantial evidence. Finley reluctantly accompanies him to obtain objects that will link Nicholas to the murder, which he records on video with Nicholas holding a newspaper, showing the date to be after the murder. The original video is kept in Finley's desk with a back-up placed in a safe deposit box. Nicholas gets himself arrested for DUI by a police contact, Lt. Nickerson, while wearing his falsified circumstantial evidence. He is arrested and charged with the murder, but Merchant requests the case be transferred to him to steal credit for the DA, to Nickerson’s dismay. Upon investigating Nicholas' activity, Merchant informs Hunter that Nicholas is trying to set them up. Crystal, unaware of Nicholas’ plan, visits him in jail, and he convinces her not